Book XIV

1But he went up from the harbor by a rough track

through wooded country, along the heights, where Athena

had shown him the noble swineherd — the man who cared¹

for his substance beyond all the house-slaves noble Odysseus had acquired.

5He found him sitting in the fore-court, where his yard

was built up high, in a place with a clear view all around,

big and handsome, with a cleared run round it. The swineherd

had built it himself for the swine of his absent master —²

without his mistress, without old Laertes —

10out of quarried stones, and coped it with wild pear;

and outside he had driven stakes the whole circuit, this way and that,

close-set and thick, split out of the black heart of the oak;

and inside the yard he had made twelve sties

hard by one another, bedding for the swine; and in each one

15fifty wallowing sows were penned,

breeding females. The boars slept outside,

far fewer: for the godlike suitors kept thinning them

at their feasts — the swineherd forever sending in³

the best of all the fatted hogs;

20and these numbered three hundred and sixty.

And beside them four dogs always slept — like wild beasts,

raised by the swineherd, a leader of men.⁴

He himself was fitting sandals to his feet,

cutting them from a well-tanned oxhide. The others

25had gone their ways, this man here, that man there, with the herded swine —

three of them; the fourth he had sent off to the city

to bring a hog to the overweening suitors — forced to it —

so they might slaughter it and glut their hearts with meat.

Suddenly the baying dogs caught sight of Odysseus:

30they rushed him, yelping. And Odysseus⁵

sat down — pure craft — and the staff dropped from his hand.

There, at his own farm, he would have suffered shameful hurt,

but the swineherd came fast on his quick feet after them,

darting through the gateway — the hide flew from his hand —

35and shouting he scattered the dogs this way and that

with a shower of stones. And he addressed his master:

"Old man — the dogs came one breath short of tearing you

to pieces, and the shame of it would have poured on me.

And the gods have given me griefs enough besides, and groaning:

40here I sit, mourning a godlike master,⁶

and fatten hogs for other men

to eat, while he, perhaps, is starving for bread

and wanders the lands and towns of men of alien speech —

if indeed he lives still, and sees the light of the sun.

45But follow me — into the hut, old man, so that you too,

when you have had your fill of bread and wine,

may say where you come from, and all the cares you have borne."

So speaking the noble swineherd led him to the hut,

brought him in and set him down: he heaped springy brushwood

50and spread on it the skin of a shaggy wild goat —

his own bedding, big and thick. And Odysseus was glad⁷

that he received him so, and spoke a word, and named him:

"May Zeus grant you, stranger, and the other deathless gods,

whatever you wish most — since you welcomed me with all your heart."

55And you answered him, Eumaeus the swineherd:⁸

"Stranger, it is not right for me — not though a worse man came —

to slight a stranger: for from Zeus they come, all of them,⁹

strangers and beggars; and a gift, though small, is dear —

from such as we are: for that is the way of slaves,

60always afraid, when the masters who hold the power

are the young ones. As for him — the gods have bound his homecoming,

the man who would have loved me devotedly, and given me possessions —

a house, a plot of land, a wife that many men had courted —¹⁰

such things as a kind-hearted master gives his house-slave

65who has labored hard for him, whose work a god makes prosper,

the way this work of mine prospers, at which I hold my post.

For that my master would have paid me richly, had he grown old here.

But he is dead. — And I wish Helen's whole breed had gone down¹¹

on its knees to destruction, for she loosed the knees of many men:

70he too went off for the sake of Agamemnon's honor

to Ilium of the fine horses, to fight the Trojans."

So speaking he quickly belted in his tunic with his sash

and went to the sties, where the tribes of young pigs were penned.

He took two out of there, and slaughtered them both,

75singed them, cut them small, and threaded them on spits,

and when he had roasted all of it, he brought and set it by Odysseus

hot on the spits themselves, and dusted it with white barley,

and mixed honey-sweet wine in an ivy-wood bowl,

and sat down facing him, and pressed him on:

80"Eat now, stranger — what house-slaves have to offer:¹²

young pig. The fatted hogs — the suitors eat those,

with no thought in their hearts of the gods' watching eye, no mercy.

Yet the blessed gods love no ruthless dealing:¹³

they honor justice, and the right acts of men.

85Why — even enemies, even raiders, who land

on a foreign coast, and Zeus grants them plunder,

and they fill their ships and set off home —

even on their hearts falls the strong fear of the watching eye.

But these men — these men know something; they have heard some god's own voice

90telling his grim death: that is why they will not woo

in the right way, nor go home to their own, but at their ease

they devour the goods, high-handed, and spare nothing.

For every night and every day that comes from Zeus,

they slaughter victims — never one, and never only two —

95and wine they draw off past all measure, and waste it.

For his livelihood was past speaking. No hero anywhere

had so much — not on the dark mainland,

not on Ithaca itself; no twenty men together

have wealth so great. I will count it through for you:¹⁴

100twelve herds of cattle on the mainland; as many flocks of sheep;

as many droves of pigs; as many ranging herds of goats

in the care of foreigners and of his own herdsmen there.

And here, at the island's end, wide-ranging herds of goats

graze, eleven in all, with good men watching over them,

105and every day each man of them drives up a beast for those others —

whichever of the fatted goats looks best;

and I keep guard over these sows, and protect them,

and choose out the best of the swine, and send it in."

So he spoke; and Odysseus ate his meat and drank his wine,

110ravenous, silent — planting evils for the suitors.¹⁵

But when he had supped, and steadied his heart with food,

the swineherd filled the cup he drank from himself

brim-full of wine and gave it; and he took it, glad at heart,

and lifting his voice he spoke winged words to him:

115"Friend — who was the man who bought you with his goods,

the master rich and powerful as you describe?

You say he perished for the sake of Agamemnon's honor:

name him — I may know him, being such a one as he was.

For Zeus knows, I suppose, and the other deathless gods,

120whether I have seen him and could bring you news. I have wandered far."

Then the swineherd answered him, a leader of men:

"Old man — no wanderer coming with news of him

could persuade his wife now, or his dear son.

Drifters in need of keep — they lie¹⁶

125at random, and have no wish to speak the truth.

Every vagrant who finds his way to the land of Ithaca

goes to my mistress and babbles his deceits;

and she receives him kindly, and treats him well, and questions everything,

and as she grieves the tears come falling from her lids,

130as is the right way of a wife whose husband dies far off.

You too, old man, would have a story stitched together fast enough¹⁷

if someone would give you clothing — a cloak and a tunic.

But him — by now the dogs and the quick birds

have torn the skin from his bones, and the life has gone out of him;

135or the fish have eaten him in the sea, and his bones

lie on a shore somewhere, wrapped deep in drifting sand.

So he is dead and gone over there, and grief is left behind

for all who loved him — for me above all: for never again

will I find a master so gentle, wherever I go —

140not though I came again to my father's and my mother's

house, where I was born, and where they reared me.

And it is not even for them I mourn so much, for all my longing

to see them with my eyes again in my own country:

no — it is longing for Odysseus, who is gone, that takes hold of me.

145I shrink from naming him, stranger, even now he is absent,¹⁸

for he loved me beyond measure, and cared for me at heart.

I call him 'my beloved lord,' even far away."

Then much-enduring noble Odysseus spoke to him again:

"Friend — since you deny it flat, and say that he

150will come no more, and your heart is set in disbelief —

then I will say it not just so, but with an oath upon it:

Odysseus is coming home. And let my reward for the good news

come the moment he arrives at his own halls:

dress me then in a cloak and a tunic, fine clothing.

155Before that — though I stand in sore need — I will take nothing.

For hateful to me as the very gates of Hades¹⁹

is the man who yields to poverty and babbles deceits.

Now Zeus be my witness, first of the gods, and this table of friendship,

and the hearth of blameless Odysseus, to which I have come:

160all this shall be accomplished exactly as I say.

Within this very turning of the light Odysseus will be here:²⁰

between this month's waning and the rising of the next,

he will come home; and he will punish whoever

dishonors his wife and his shining son in this place."

165And you answered him, Eumaeus the swineherd:

"Old man, I will never be paying that reward for good news,

and Odysseus will come home no more. Drink your wine

in peace, and let us turn our minds to other things. Do not

remind me of all this: for the heart in my breast

170aches whenever anyone recalls my faithful master.

As for the oath — we will let it be. But may Odysseus

come — as I wish it, as Penelope wishes,

and old Laertes, and godlike Telemachus.

And now it is the boy I mourn without ceasing — Odysseus' own son

175Telemachus. The gods reared him like a young tree,

and I thought he would stand among men no whit behind

his own dear father, a wonder in build and beauty —

and some immortal crippled the balanced mind within him,

or some man did: he has gone for news of his father

180to holy Pylos. And the lordly suitors lie in wait

for his homecoming — so that the line of godlike Arceisius²¹

may perish out of Ithaca and leave no name.

Well — we will let him be, whether he is taken

or escapes, and the son of Cronos stretches a hand over him.

185But come, old man, tell me your own troubles now;

and tell me this too, honestly, so that I may know it:

What man are you, and from where? Where are your city and your parents?²²

On what kind of ship did you come? And how did sailors

bring you to Ithaca? Who did they claim to be?

190For I hardly think you came here on foot."

Then Odysseus of the many designs answered him:

"Then I will tell you all of it, and truly.

If only there were food for the two of us, for a good while,

and sweet wine here inside the hut,

195to feast on quietly while others did the work —

then I could go on easily for a full year

and still not finish out the tale of my heart's cares,

all that I have labored through by the gods' will.²³

Out of wide Crete I claim my lineage:²⁴

200a rich man's son. Many other sons besides

were born and bred in his hall, true-born,

sons of his wife. My mother was bought — a concubine.

Yet Castor, Hylax' son — the man whose blood I claim —

honored me equally with his lawful sons.

205In those days the Cretan people honored him like a god

for his fortune, his wealth, and his glorious sons.

But the death-spirits came and carried him away

to the house of Hades. And his high-hearted sons

divided up the living and cast lots for it,

210and to me they gave a pittance, and allotted me a house.

Still, I won myself a wife from a family of wide holdings —

by my own worth: for I was no empty man,²⁵

no shirker of the fight. Now it is all gone from me;

but even so, I think, looking at the stubble

215you can tell the standing grain. Since then, trouble past measure has held me.

Ares and Athena, yes, they gave me boldness

and the strength that breaks men's ranks. Whenever I picked

the best men for an ambush, sowing evils for the enemy,

my proud heart never once looked forward to death:

220far the first, I would leap out and take my man with the spear —

whichever of the enemy gave me his back in flight.

Such I was in war. But field-work I never loved,

nor the housekeeping that rears shining children:²⁶

what I loved, always, was the oared ships,

225and wars, and polished javelins, and arrows —

grim things, that other men shudder at.

But I loved what the god, I suppose, set in my heart:

one man delights in one work, another in another.

For before the sons of the Achaeans set foot on Troy,

230nine times I led men and fast-running ships

against foreign peoples, and rich takings came my way.

From it I drew out my pleasure, and much fell to me

by lot besides. My house grew great at once, and thereafter

I walked among the Cretans feared and respected.

235But when Zeus of the wide voice devised at last

that hateful road that loosed the knees of many men,

then they pressed me and glorious Idomeneus

to lead the ships to Ilium. There was no device

for refusing: the people's hard talk held us to it.²⁷

240There we sons of the Achaeans made war nine years,

and in the tenth we sacked Priam's city and set off

home with our ships; and a god scattered the Achaeans.

But for me — wretched me — Zeus the deviser designed evils.

One month, no more, I stayed, delighting in my children,

245my wedded wife, and my possessions. And then

my heart bade me fit out ships and sail

for Egypt, with my godlike companions.²⁸

Nine ships I fitted out, and the crews gathered fast.

Six days after that my trusted companions

250feasted, and I gave victims in plenty

for sacrifice to the gods, and for the men to make their feast.

On the seventh we boarded, and from wide Crete

we sailed with a fresh fair North Wind behind us,

easily, as if downstream. No ship of mine

255took harm: unhurt and whole

we sat, and the wind and the steersmen held them on course.

On the fifth day we reached the fair-flowing river of Egypt,

and in the river of Egypt I moored my curved ships.

Then, you may be sure, I ordered my trusted companions

260to stay there by the ships and guard the ships,

and I sent out scouts to the lookout places.

But they gave way to arrogance — followed their own force —²⁹

and straightway began to pillage the beautiful fields

of the Egyptian men: they carried off the women and small children,

265and killed the men. And quickly the cry reached the city.

Hearing the shout, at the showing of dawn the people

came; and the whole plain filled with infantry and horses

and the lightning of bronze. And Zeus who delights in thunder

threw an evil panic on my companions, and no man dared

270stand and face it: for destruction ringed us everywhere.

There they killed many of us with the sharp bronze,

and others they led up alive, to slave for them by force.³⁰

But as for me — Zeus himself put this thought in my mind

(would I had died instead, and met my doom

275there, in Egypt! for more grief stood waiting to receive me):

at once I took the well-made helmet from my head,

and the shield from my shoulders, and dropped the spear from my hand,

and went straight toward the king's chariot,

and clasped his knees and kissed them. He spared me, and had mercy,³¹

280and sat me in his car, and took me, weeping, to his house.

Truly, man after man came lunging at me with the ash spear,

raging to kill me — for they were angered beyond all measure —

but he held them off: he feared the wrath of Zeus

of Strangers, who above all feels fury at evil deeds.

285There I stayed seven years, and I gathered much wealth

among the Egyptian men: for all of them gave.

But when the eighth year came wheeling round for me,

then there came a Phoenician, a man well-schooled in deceits —³²

a gnawer of men, who had already done the world much harm.

290He talked me round, that one, and took me with him to Phoenicia,

where his house and his possessions lay,

and there I stayed with him for the full round of a year.

But when at last the months and the days were coming to fulfillment,

as the year rolled round and the seasons came again,

295he put me aboard a seagoing ship for Libya —

a lying scheme: I was to help him run a cargo there,

but there he meant to sell me, and take a boundless price.

I went with him aboard — suspecting it, but forced.

And she ran on with a fresh fair North Wind behind her,

300on the mid-sea track above Crete. And Zeus was devising their destruction:

for when we had left Crete behind, and no other³³

land showed anywhere — only sky and sea —

then the son of Cronos set a dark-blue cloud

over the hollow ship, and the deep went black beneath it.

305And Zeus thundered in the same instant, and hurled his bolt into the ship,

and she shivered stem to stern, struck by the bolt of Zeus,

and filled with the reek of sulfur; and all the men fell from the ship.

Like sea-crows around the black hull

they were carried off on the waves; and the god took away their homecoming.

310But as for me — Zeus himself, though my heart was full of anguish,

put the huge mast of the dark-blue-prowed ship

into my two hands, so that I might yet escape the evil.

Wrapped around it I was carried before the deadly winds.

Nine days I was carried; and on the tenth, in the black night,

315a great rolling wave brought me near the Thesprotians' land.

There the king of the Thesprotians, the hero Pheidon,

took me in — and asked no price: his own dear son³⁴

had found me beaten down by cold and weariness, and led me home,

raising me up by the hand, until we reached his father's halls;

320and he put clothing on me, a cloak and a tunic.

It was there I heard of Odysseus. For the king said³⁵

he had hosted him, a guest and friend, on his way home to his fathers' land,

and he showed me all the treasure Odysseus had gathered —

bronze and gold and iron worked with labor —

325enough to feed a man's line to the tenth generation,

such a store of it lay in the lord's halls.

Odysseus, he said, was gone to Dodona, to hear³⁶

the will of Zeus out of the god's own high-crowned oak:

how he should come home to the rich land of Ithaca,

330openly or in secret, after so long away.

And he swore an oath to me, pouring the libation in his house,

that a ship was hauled down and a crew standing ready

to convey him home to his own dear fatherland.

But me he sent off first: for a Thesprotian ship

335happened to be sailing for Dulichium, rich in wheat.

He charged them to bring me there, with all care, to King Acastus.

But an evil counsel about me pleased their hearts instead —

so that I might yet come down to the last dregs of misery.

When the seagoing ship was far out from the land,

340they set about contriving, then and there, my day of slavery.³⁷

They stripped me of my clothing, cloak and tunic both,

and threw around me different gear — this foul rag

and this torn tunic — the very ones you see with your own eyes;

and at evening they reached the tilled fields of clear-skied Ithaca.

345There they lashed me tight in the well-benched ship

with a twisted rope, and went ashore themselves

and hurried their supper along the margin of the sea.

But the gods themselves undid my lashing —

easily. And wrapping my rag about my head,

350I slid down the polished lading-plank, breasted the sea,

then struck out with both arms, swimming,

and very soon I was out of the water, clear of them.

I climbed up where a thicket of flowering brush stood,

and lay there, crouched. And they, groaning loud,

355cast about; but there seemed no profit for them

in searching further, so they went back again

aboard their hollow ship. And the gods hid me

easily, and brought me on my way to the steading

of an understanding man. For it is still my portion to live."

360And you answered him, Eumaeus the swineherd:

"Poor luckless stranger — truly you have stirred the heart in me,

telling all this through, all you have suffered, all your wandering.

But one part is not in order, and you will never persuade me —

that about Odysseus. Why should a man like you³⁸

365lie into the empty air? I know it well myself,

my master's homecoming: how the gods all hated him,

utterly — since they did not bring him down among the Trojans,

or in the arms of his friends, once he had wound the war to its end.

Then the whole Achaean people would have built him a tomb,³⁹

370and he would have won great fame in time to come for his son as well.

Instead the whirlwinds have snatched him away without glory.

And I — I keep apart, with my pigs. I do not go

to the city, unless perhaps watchful-minded Penelope

bids me come, when news arrives from somewhere;

375then they all sit around the newcomer and question everything —

those who grieve for their long-gone lord,

and those who rejoice, eating up his living unpunished.

But I have no love of asking and inquiring,

ever since an Aetolian cheated me with his tale —⁴⁰

380a man who had killed someone, and wandered over the wide earth,

and came to my house; and I received him with open arms.

He said he had seen him among the Cretans, at Idomeneus' side,

mending the ships the storms had shattered on him,

and said he would come by summer, or by harvest-time,

385bringing much wealth, together with his godlike companions.

So you, old man of many sorrows — since some power has brought you to me —

do not court my favor with lies, do not charm me:⁴¹

it is not for that I will respect you or befriend you,

but out of fear of Zeus of Strangers, and out of pity for yourself."

390Then Odysseus of the many designs answered him:

"Truly the heart in your breast is past all persuading —

such a man you are: not even my oath won you over; nothing convinces you.

Come then, let us make a bargain of it — and above the two of us

let the gods who hold Olympus stand witness on both sides.

395If your master comes home, to this very house,

you dress me in a cloak and a tunic, and send me on

to Dulichium, where my own heart longs to be;

and if your master does not come as I say he will,

set your slaves on me: pitch me down from the great rock —⁴²

400so that the next beggar too may think twice before he cheats."

And the noble swineherd answered him, and said:

"Stranger — yes! and a fine name I would win among mankind

for goodness, now and ever after,

I who led you to my hut and gave you a guest's due,

405if then I killed you and took the dear life out of you:

with a clean heart, after that, I could pray to Zeus the son of Cronos!⁴³

But it is supper time. Soon now my companions

should be in, so we can make a savory supper in the hut."

So the two of them spoke such things to one another;

410and the swine came near, and the men who herd them.

They shut the sows in their pens for the night's sleep,

and a clamor past speech went up as the swine were folded.

Then the noble swineherd called to his companions:

"Bring the best of the hogs, so I may slaughter it for a guest⁴⁴

415from far away. And we will have some good of it ourselves,

who bear the misery of these white-tusked swine and suffer for it

so long, while others eat our labor and pay nothing."

So speaking, he split the firewood with the pitiless bronze,

and they brought in a hog, well fattened, five years old,

420and stood it by the hearth. Nor did the swineherd

forget the deathless ones: for his mind was set on good.⁴⁵

No — beginning the rite, he cast into the fire the head-bristles

of the white-tusked hog, and prayed to all the gods

that wise Odysseus might come home to his own house.

425Then he lifted an oak billet, left over from the splitting,

and struck: and the life left the hog; and the others cut the throat,

and singed it, and quickly quartered it out. And the swineherd,

beginning the offering, laid raw flesh from every limb

in the rich fat, and cast the pieces in the fire,

430sprinkled over with barley meal; and they carved the rest

and threaded it on spits, and roasted it with care,

and drew it all off, and heaped it on the platters. And the swineherd

stood up to divide it: for his mind knew what was fair.

Into seven portions he divided the whole:⁴⁶

435one he set aside, with a prayer, for the Nymphs and for Hermes,

Maia's son; the rest he served out to each man;

and Odysseus he honored with the long unbroken chine

of the white-tusked hog — and made his master's heart proud.⁴⁷

And Odysseus of the many designs lifted his voice and said:

440"Eumaeus — may you be as dear to father Zeus

as you are to me: for you honor such a man as I am now with the best."

And you answered him, Eumaeus the swineherd:

"Eat, my god-touched guest, and take your pleasure in such things

as are here. The god will give one thing and let another go,

445whatever his own heart wills: for he can do all things."⁴⁸

He spoke, and burned the first-cuts to the gods who are forever,

and poured the fire-bright wine, and set the cup in the hands

of Odysseus, sacker of cities; and sat down to his own portion.

And Mesaulius served them bread — a man the swineherd

450had got for himself, alone, while his master was away,⁴⁹

without his mistress, without old Laertes:

he had bought him from the Taphians with goods of his own.

And their hands went out to the good things spread before them.

But when they had put away desire for food and drink,

455Mesaulius took away the bread; and they, filled

full of bread and meat, bestirred themselves for bed.

And the night came on, foul, at the moon's dark, and Zeus rained⁵⁰

the whole night through, and the wet West Wind blew big without ceasing.

Then Odysseus spoke among them, testing the swineherd —

460whether he would strip off his own cloak and give it,

or urge it out of one of his companions, since he cared for him so:

"Hear me now, Eumaeus, and all you other companions,

while I speak a word of boasting: it is the crazing wine⁵¹

that commands me — wine, that sets even the deep-minded singing

465and giggling softly, and stirs him up to dance,

and tosses out many a word better left unspoken.

Still, since I have blurted once, I will hide nothing.

Would I were young, and my strength stood firm in me,

as on the day we laid our ambush and led it under Troy.

470Odysseus led, and Atreus' son Menelaus,

and with them I was third in command: they asked it themselves.⁵²

When we had come up to the city and the steep wall,

we lay around the town in the dense brushwood,

crouched under our arms among the reeds and marsh-grass,

475and a foul night came on, the North Wind dropping down,

freezing; and snow came falling on us like hoarfrost,

bitter cold, and ice crusted thick on the shields.

Then all the others had their cloaks and tunics,

and slept at their ease, shoulders wrapped in their shields;

480but I had left my cloak behind with my companions —

fool that I was — never thinking I would freeze:

I had come with only my shield and my shining waist-guard.

But in the night's third watch, when the stars had crossed their height,⁵³

then I spoke to Odysseus — he was there beside me —

485nudging him with my elbow; and he listened on the instant:

'Zeus-born son of Laertes, Odysseus of the many devices,

I shall not be among the living long: this cold

is killing me. I have no cloak. Some power tricked me

into a single tunic. And now there is no way out.'

490So I spoke; and he then held this plan in his heart —

such a man he was for counsel, and for fighting —

and speaking low, close in my ear, he said:

'Quiet now, lest some other Achaean hear you.'⁵⁴

Then he propped his head on his elbow and spoke out:

495'Hear me, friends. A divine dream came to me in my sleep.⁵⁵

We have come out too far from the ships. Let someone go

and tell Atreus' son Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,

to send more men from the ships to join us here.'

So he spoke; and up jumped Thoas, Andraemon's son,

500fast, and flung off his purple cloak,

and set off running for the ships. And I, in that man's garment,

lay glad until Dawn shone on her golden throne.

Would I were young like that now, and my strength stood firm:

then someone in this steading might give a swineherd's cloak —

505both ways at once: in kindness, and in respect for a good man.⁵⁶

As it is, they scorn me for the foul clothes on my skin."

And you answered him, Eumaeus the swineherd:

"Old man — that is a blameless fable you have told:⁵⁷

not one word of it off the measure; nothing said without its profit.

510So you shall not lack for clothing, nor for anything else

that is owed a hard-worn suppliant when he comes —

tonight. But at dawn you will knock about in those rags of yours again:

for there are not many cloaks here, or changes of tunic,

to put on — one only for each man.

515But when the dear son of Odysseus comes,

he will give you clothing himself, a cloak and a tunic,

and send you wherever your heart and spirit bid you go."

So speaking he sprang up and set a bed for him

close by the fire, and threw on it skins of sheep and goats.

520There Odysseus lay down; and over him the swineherd threw a cloak,

thick-woven and big, that he kept by him for a change

of clothing, to put on when some terrible storm arose.

So Odysseus slept there, and beside him slept

the young men. But the swineherd — a bed in that place

525did not please him, to sleep apart from his swine;

he armed himself to go outside. And Odysseus was glad⁵⁸

that he took such care of his substance while he was far away.

First he slung his sharp sword over his sturdy shoulders,

then wrapped himself in a wind-breaking cloak, thick-woven,

530and took up the fleece of a big well-fattened goat,

and took his sharp javelin, to hold off dogs and men,

and went out to lie where the white-tusked boars

slept, under a hollow rock, in the lee of the North Wind.